SENTIDO > CULTURE > TRAVEL > MADRID

MADRID: CROSSROADS, TERTULIAS & TRADE
ALIVE ALL NIGHT, STEEPED IN THE FAMOUS 'MARCHA' NIGHTLIFE, HOME TO SOME OF THE WORLD'S GREAT ART MUSEUMS, VIBRANT HUB OF A FREE SOCIETY
Updated 23 March 2006

Madrid is the capital city of Spain, located at its center. The city is featured in various cherished works of Ernest Hemingway and was immortalized by the great Spanish author Benito Pérez Galdós, in his novel Fortunata y Jacinta. Madrid is full of a spirit unique to a place which is both the heart of traditional Castile and a great cosmopolitan metropolis, open to all the world and innovative in its art and culture.

Photo: © 2001 Kevin Clous Oso del Madroño, symbol of Madrid, off Pta del Sol

The city is known to many as the crossroads of Spain, occupying its geographical center, the country's major highways radiating out from the heart of Madrid, the Puerta del Sol. But the reputation comes from more than its status as premier transport hub: Madrid has long been known as a place where people go to test their dreams, or to excel, and so is peopled by foreigners and Spaniards from all parts. Some have said the city is more hospitable to visitors than to its own, geared as it is to the newcomer, and to those just passing through.

In prehistoric times, the central plateau where Madrid is perched was roamed by rhinoceros and elephants, whose remains have been discovered by scientists. In Roman times, there is thought to have been a colonial camp along the Manzanares river, where Madrid now sits, but the evidence is scarce and the references to a Roman Madrid is thought to be speculative at best.

When the Moors from North Africa invaded Spain in the 8th Century, they made their way far into the north, occupying the central and northern regions of what is now Spain. Prince Al Mundhir built a military stronghold which became known as Magerit, or Mayrit. Magerit was retaken by Spanish Christians in 1085, and the Moorish alcazaba became the Spanish alcázar, and occupied the land where present day visitors will find the Palacio Real.

Although Moorish geographers refer to Magerit as a noteworthy city pertaining to the Caliphate of Al Andalus, Madrid remained for centuries a village outpost and trading junction on the trickling Manzanares river. It was the Hapsburgs of Austria, whose empire included Spain, that began Madrid's climb to true national prominence.

Felipe II moved his court to Madrid, some believe in order to be nearer to the San Lorenzo de El Escorial monastery. When Felipe II set up court in Madrid, he was followed by a wave of clerics, lawyers, merchants, doctors, artisans and writers, as well as a number of less savory characters. Within a short time, the city's population would triple. This is the reason many say Madrid was "an invented city", built around the whim of a monarch. In fact, the Trastámara kings held court there, as did the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, at intervals.

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

Felipe III built the great Plaza Mayor in 1619, which soon became the heart of the Renaissance city's urban bustle. A unique architectural achievement, the Plaza Mayor is an enclosed, open air public square, breached by nine tall archways on its four sides. The plaza was used in early days for bullfights, autos da fe (in which the Inquisition castigated and burned heretics), and also for canonizations and public festivals. At least three kings were crowned there.

Nearby, the Puerta del Sol demonstrates the architectural pursuits of the architects working under Carlos III. The neo-classical buildings surrounding the vast plaza where Madrid's roads (and buses) converge, with their creamy golden and red façades, still evoke a sense of bygone elegance and civic pride. The Parque del Buen Retiro also contains a number of neoclassical structures and sculptures.

The Royal Palace is thought to be the quintessence of Madrid's neoclassical building boom, and is replete with incomparable artwork, exemplary sculpture, Rococo furniture and fine implements for royal feasts.

In the early 19th Century, Madrid emerged from the period of the Enlightenment into a charmed 'Romantic' period. During these decades, Madrid's café culture took root, and the model for the Spanish tertulia, a sort of informal café debate circle, was edified by the increasing influence of a nascent middle class. The mix of politics, economy, debate and traditional allegiances, led Spain into the brutal Carlist wars.

The Carlists were loyal to the religious chauvanism of Don Carlos, but they met fierce opposition from Republican-minded forces and those loyal to Isabel II. The dynastic wars fomented liberal allegiances in the working and merchant classes and pushed Spain closer to its reluctant clash with modernism. The birth of Spanish industry exacerbated the political divergence between the modern and traditionalist factions, and two civil wars tore at the fabric of Spanish society during the 19th Century.

In the later part of the century, the great novelist Benito Pérez Galdós, the literary giant of his era, captured the life of Madrid, including the friction between classes, the political volatility and the café culture, in his epic, Fortunata y Jacinta. The historical relevance of famous restaurants such as El Botín and Las Cuevas (both just off the Plaza Mayor) dates from this period. Literary mention has brought generation after generation of tourists to these eateries.

Around the turn of the century, the tertulia culture gained new breath with great authors and thinkers, like Unamuno, Ortega y Gasset, Baroja and Valle-Inclán. The ideas of these writers, among others, comprised what became known as the movement of the Generation of '98 (1898 was the year in which "Spain lost its empire"). A literary and philosophical wave that questioned the closely guarded idiosyncrasies of Spanish culture, these writers were social critics as much as artists, and created a new feeling of inclination toward modernist civil structures and the concept of a Republic.

Madrid was capital of the Second Republic, and fought hard against the seige imposed by Franco's fascists during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. After the consolidation of Franco's regime and the flight of artists and intellectuals into exile, 1950's Madrid saw boom years, in which the government financed huge building and expansion of the city.

It became the official policy of the central government that Madrid must always have a larger population than Barcelona, where Franco enjoyed only minimal support. This prompted the annexation of dozens of smaller villages, now Madrid's countless barrios, many still retaining an individual character and seeming a distraction from the life of the center.

In the late '70's, Madrid was the epicenter of Spain's delicate move toward democracy. When a coup was suppressed, the Franquistas saw their last desperate chance at power recede, and Madrid became the quintessential open city, inviting travelers, revelers, students and scholars, to come in droves and to fashion the new life of the city.

Atocha Station , Madrid

By the 1990's, Madrid had become a city steeped in cultural activity: theatre, music, visual arts, and film. In 1992, it was the European Cultural Capital city, becoming a magnet for further development of the expressive and performance arts, and solidifying its reputation as one of the great museum cities in all the world.

The Atocha Station opens the capital to the wealth of cultural history and modern destinations around La Mancha and to the south, with high-speed AVE trains to Sevilla and the coast. It is also a commuter hub and a main transport artery for students at the great university in Alcalá de Henares, outside the city.

Within only a few steps in a few rooms at the Prado or the Reina Sofía, the traveler can experience literally dozens of the greatest or most revered artworks of the last six centuries. The Prado offers the additional wonder of Roman sculpture, juxtaposed with Renaissance period paintings by Catholic Spain's great masters. Spanish painters especially, such as Velázquez and Goya, enjoy incomparable prominence there, but you'll also find stunningly vast collections of Titian and Rubens.

Today, Madrid will welcome and serve the traveler who seeks a casual getaway, a bustling metropolis, an artistic holiday, a trip to the opera, or a tour of the legendary land of La Mancha. The Rastro marketplace still offers an incredible diversity of goods at every price, and open air book markets often appear as if out of nowhere. Fine dining is plentiful, and accomodations run the gamut: find the one-star pensión you've read about, the fully equipped affordable 3-star hotel, or the 5-star affair that begs a fortune...